New Sea Urchin Designs & News!

Hello friends!

Geez, was today crazy. Originally I was going to share my craft store finds with you, but that went in a different direction!  Ok well I will tell you the news first before I show you the beads.... 

The news!...

Well we are MOVING again. Lol. This time we are moving just over the state border from Missouri to Olathe, Kansas. We will be 45 minutes from where we are now and right across the street from Ricky's work! We ended up getting an apartment cause finding a house this time of a year is almost impossible for the areas in which we wanted to live. We have been looking for months and just decided to go with an apartment. This move will save us literally hundreds of dollars in gas and it will give Ricky another 2 hours worth of time per night! Woo hoo! We will even be walking distance from just about everything we could want and only a short drive to things like Trader Joe's and Whole Foods! We got a place at Wyncroft Hill. You can check out the gallery there. Here is our floor plan. We are moving on Saturday morning so we will be down for a few days. My shops will remain open, but there will be a slight delay while we unpack and get the internet up. So just a little "heads up" on that. So super exciting! So that is the news.

Now for the BEADS!....

So maybe you saw Staci's posts awhile back on Facebook. She had posted the progress photos of the stamps she was creating for me. Well I received them and I couldn't wait to try them out. I am totally in LOVE with the urchin imprints. They are SO pretty! I love the little snakey texture and the bumpies. Those are the technical terms ;)

You guys, I literally made PILES of beads trying to figure out the designs!

Some of the first attempts. I didn't even put these in the kiln. I only made them quickly and let them cool on my table. I did the "Quick and Dirty" method of just slopping some glass on a mandrel and trying a few things to see what works.

I tried shiny.

Same bead etched. 

Black etched.

Different base colors, different stamps.....

This is a pile of smaller beads form the 3rd run I tried. I was finally getting somewhere, but still, I want the impressions to be deep and  pronounced. I could get some good impressions, but then one side of my coin beads would be flatter and one side would be rounder. Damn it!

These were the best coins I got made. They are more organic in shape with nice textured prints and amazing color variance. This was my vision for them using this color of glass. These were snagged by Karen before I even listed them ;) 

Here were some different focal designs I tried. I wanted to get a feel for what worked. 

Here is a close-up of the pile of focals. I finally NAILED the design! I was getting so pissed. I spent DAYS trying to get something to really show off the impressions. Using focals you can really get a nice impression and it's ok to the the bead shape flatten out. I am really pleased with the beads in this pile!

Here are some close-ups on opaque glasses. You can see the very fine details of the stamps on the glass surface.

They are really apparent here! Look at all of that texture and color! Wow!

Here is a close-up of the black. Dreamy huh?

Well I only had a few to list today as I should have been getting stuff packed, but I already just about SOLD  OUT! I have ONE focal left for sale!

Here is the gorgeous Ivory one that sold. I love the look of the impression with the rainbow underneath. It looks like a watery ripple relfection. So amazing! This one is SOLD.

Here you can see that same wonderful variance of color in tehe coral with great texture. This one is also SOLD. 

Ocean Urchin Egg "Midnight Rainbow Reflection"  The ONLY one left for sale! Wow, gorgeous! I love the contrast of the rainbows and black so mesmerizing! 

Well I have waiting way too long to EAT so I need to go make some food. 

I will see you all tomorrow and then not until after we are unpacked. Purchases made through tomorrow will go out tomorrow. Any others will be a day or two.  See you soon! Have a great weekend!

xo Genea